Shadows
by juujubean
Summary: Clary Morgernstern was the average teenage girl, who just happened to see shadows once in awhile. After moving in with her mother, a set of events are set in motion and secrets are revealed. Meeting new people, seeing familiar faces, and learning you are part of some kind of ancient race that kills demons for a living is all in an average day's work. Right?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey guys, it's been a while since I've uploaded anything. I have decided to go in another direction of writing. I hope you like it :).**

"I love you, Clary"

"I love you too Dad, I'm going to miss you." I said, squeezing my eyes shut, as I wrapped my arms around my father.

Today was the day I had to move in with my mother. I've lived with my father for as long as I could remember. Unfortunately, I did not know much about my mom, other than the occasional short conversation on the phone.

I stepped back from my father and turned into the airport terminal. Holding back tears, I forced a smile on my face to the air hostess, who impatiently ushered me into the airplane. As I found my seat, I sat down, heaving a sigh. Leaving the UK was going to be hard for me. It was all I had ever known. The plane's engine roared to life. It represented a new beginning.

My new beginning.

* * *

"Clary!" I heard, as I walked out of the airport terminal.

"Clary!" I whipped my head around, searching for the owner of the voice.

"Clary!" I heard once more. Turning my head to the right, I found a short, red-haired woman jumping up and down, excitedly shouting my name. She ran towards me, clutching a paper, with was I assumed was my name written on it. As she reached me, she enveloped me in a warm hug.

"Oh, my baby girl. I've missed you so much." She said as she released my from the hug.

My smile brightened. She looked exactly like me. The same uncontrollable red hair, the same short 5'4 height, and the same green eyes. So this was my mother.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I took her in. It had been 17 years since I have seen her. I was a baby then, so I don't remember her, but God, I had missed her.

I noticed, from the corner of my eye, a tall, dark-skinned man with a bright smile, coming towards us. As he reached us, he stretched his arm towards me, anticipating a handshake and said, "Hello Clary, I'm Luke."

Luke was my step-father. After my parents divorced, my mother fell in love with a man named Luke Garroway. We had spoken briefly on the phone many times.

Disregarding the formalities, I hugged him. "Hi Luke." As I released him, I felt a familiar tingle down my spine.

Turning to my left, I saw a dark shadow swirling its was into the airport. Increasing its speed, it propelled itself towards the ceiling. My eyes widened as I followed its path above across the ceiling.

"Clary, are you ok?" My mother asked, furrowing her eyebrows. Focusing my eyes back on her, I noticed her and Luke looking at me oddly. I guess it was kind of weird the way I stared off into space.

"I'm fine." I smiled assuredly at them. I flickered my eyes back to where I saw the shadow, but it was gone.

Seeing shadows was nothing new to me. I had been seeing them since I was 5. I saw them everywhere; in my room, in school, outside, and even in my dreams. They haunted me wherever I went.

"I think it's time for us to go." With those words uttered from Luke, he grabbed my black suitcase and we began walking outside towards the car.

* * *

New York City, I noticed, looked much like London. Busy streets and busy people with busy lives. Getting from the airport to our apartment was a hassle. As we sat stuck in traffic, from the passenger seat, my mother asked, "So Clary, how is your father doing?"

"He's doing well, I think. He just expanded Morgenstern Inc. I'm really going to miss seeing him everyday." I say longingly. My mother and Luke then shared a look.

"What's wrong?" I questioned.

"Nothing." My mother replied. I stared at them quizzically. What was that look about?

We finally reached the 3 story apartment building. Walking into the door, I noticed the lights were off in the small room. The lights flickered on and a group of people shouted out, "Welcome home Clary!"

Startled, I stumbled backwards in shock. A group of 6 people stared at me expectedly with bright smiles on their faces. A white banner hung above their heads with the same "Welcome Home Clary!" written on it. In the middle of the room, a white and blue cake was perched on the table with my name on it. I smiled. This was my welcoming party. A tall, raven haired girl walked towards me. She looked like a model with her long legs and pretty features. She wore a short, long sleeve black dress and the highest heels I had ever seen. When she reached me, she enveloped me in a hug, squealing, "By the Angel, Clary! I finally get to meet you! We are going to have so much fun together. We'll go shopping, and then out to eat, and shop some mo-"

"Heel Isabelle," said a boy behind her. The boy in question was tall and gangly. He had dark brown hair and square glasses covering his brown eyes. A bright smile on his face, he walked forward and put his arm around Isabelle's shoulder.

Isabelle rolled her eyes and shrugged his arm off her shoulders. He laughed and turned towards me saying, "Sorry about Isabelle, she get's a little excited sometimes. I'm Simon, resident nerd."

I laughed at his comment and replied, "I'm Clary, resident newcomer."

"We know," a bored voice said.

Looking behind Simon, I saw a tall boy, who looked similar to Isabelle. He stood wearing a black sweater and black jeans. His face was scrunched up in a bored manner, rolling his eyes.

Isabelle sighed annoyingly at her brother, "Don't mind Alec, he's always like this. You'll learn to get used to it." Alec turned and glared at his sister, muttering a, "Nice to meet you."

After the encounter with Simon, Isabelle, and Alec, I met Maryse and Robert. They were Alec and Isabelle's parents. I also met Max, their little brother.

We settled on the various couches in the living room, with Simon and Max sitting on the ground. Isabelle broke the silence and said, "Our other brother Jace is still coming, but he apparently seems to think the world revolves around his timing. I swear if he-"

A knock of the door interrupted her train of thought. I heard Simon mutter, "Speak of the devil and he shall appear."

Luke stood to answer the door. As he opened the door I saw a familiar figure. A slim, muscular boy stood at the door. His curly, golden hair shined with the sunlight. He himself, looked like a glorious angel. I stood up and took in his golden eyes, scrunched up in confusion and shock.

"Clare?"

"Jace?"


	2. Chapter 2

**...Hey guys... Don't kill me, I promise I have a good excuse. Ok, maybe not, but school was really kicking my butt and were you going to take my anatomy and physiology final for me? I think not lol. Not only that but it has been difficult for me trying to write in first person, when I'm so used to writing in third person, but I'm up for the challenge. Well, without further ado, here's my extremely late update. Oh and I'm sorry it's kind of short, I promise I'll try harder next time ;)**

Grinning widely, I ran towards him and tackled him in a hug.

"Jace, I've missed you so much," I said enthusiastically.

Smiling, he wrapped his arms around me, returning my hug. I reveled in his warmth.

Jace had been my best friend back in London, for as long as I could remember. We used to do everything together. I used to tell him everything, except for my shadow predicament. That was until he left without warning. Remembering this, I unraveled myself from his embrace and punched his shoulder. "Why didn't you tell me you were moving to the states?" I questioned angrily.

He grinned sheepishly, rubbing his shoulder, "I missed you too Clare."

"After all this time, no phone call, and you knew my mom?"

"I'm sorry, Clare."

Rolling my eyes, I stepped back from him and turned around. My eyes met seven confused faces and one grinning face, the latter one being Isabelle's.

Smiling and squealing excitedly, "So this is Clare? The girl you were telling us about? The one you're in l-"

"Alight, Izzy. I think that's about enough." Jace interrupted harshly.

Isabelle looked taken aback by his harsh interruption. She furrowed her eyebrows and opened her mouth to retort. As if noticing the impending argument, Simon quickly came behind her and pulled on her right arm to turn her away. He smiled at her and said, "Grapes."

Apparently, Isabelle understood what he meant and laughed. "I can't stand you, Simon," she said, smiling at him.

Next to me Jace whispered, "So we're just going to ignore that he just said 'grapes?'"

"Apparently," I replied.

My mother walked in from the kitchen with a cake in her hands. The blue circular cake had three lit candles sticking out of it, with an intricate design of the London Bridge depicted on the face of the cake. Under the picture, the words 'Welcome Home/ Happy Birthday Clary!' were written out in the frosting. I chucked at the latter portion of the writing and looked up to see my mother's face filled with pure joy. She looked at me expectantly, "Come and blow out the candles, Clary."

I walked towards her laughing and said, "Mom, my birthday was two months ago."

She smiled and said, "I know, but I wasn't there to celebrate it with you, so I thought we could celebrate both." Standing in front of her, I thanked her and blew out the candles.

After the sharing of the cake, Robert and Maryse announced they had to leave. They left with Alec and Max. Simon and Isabelle decided to leave with them, leaving my mother, Luke, Jace and I.

We sat in the living room, my mother and Luke sitting across from Jace and I.

"Jace, you never told us you knew Clary," Luke started.

Jace smiled wearily, "I'm sorry, I didn't know she was the same person."

"It's alright, Jace." my mother said. Patting Luke on the knee, glanced at the clock and said, "Well I think it's time for us to got to bed, right Luke?"

Luke agreed standing up and helped my mother off the couch. "Don't stay too late Jace." With that, they both disappeared up the stairs.

Elbowing Jace's arm I said, "I really did miss you, you know."

He smiled and opened his mouth to respond but suddenly, from the corner of my eye, another shadow appeared, creeping from the ceiling. My head snapped towards the shadow as it zipped past the living room lamps, bringing a cold chill into the room.

The energy rolling off it was stronger than I had ever felt. It curled around in a winding motion, moving through the living room as if it were searching for something. It must have found what it was looking for because it stopped abruptly and turned to me. I stood abruptly. Jace looked around the room, searching for what I was looking at. He stood and worriedly looked around the room.

"Clary is everything ok?" He questioned.

I did not respond as my eyes continued to follow the shadow. The shadow surged forward towards me. Frightened, I stepped backward into Jace. This had never happened before. The shadows were just supposed to be there, they weren't supposed to come near me.

The shadow whizzed foreword, moving even faster now. I tried to step back, but Jace was blocking my path.

"Clary what are you looking at?" he questioned again. The shadow was getting closer. Bracing for the impact, I pressed further into Jace and squeezed my eyes shut. I felt a burst of cold wind that knocked me down to the floor, as the shadow flew through me. Screaming, I began to crawl backward. The shadow followed as if it were a sick game. It stilled and whizzed past me once more. I heard a blood-curdling scream and then nothing.


	3. Chapter 3

p style="text-align: center;"Hey Guys, no this is not an update. Yes, I hate it when writers do this, but I kinda need to announce something so...get over it and read this, please. I promise I am working on chapter 3 of this story, but it's really taking me a long time to complete it. I've also been working on a story on Wattpad too with the same name. It's not a fanfiction, it has the same title, but it has a different kind of plot line. I will try my best to have an update by the end of this month (I know that so far away, but who's tryna help me pass Micro?). Thanks for all your support and your patience, I'll see you at the end of the month ;)!/p  
p style="text-align: center;"-Joni/p  
p style="text-align: center;"P.S. You should totally check me out on Wattpad and read my story (my username is Juuujubean with 3 u's because someone decided to take my regular 2 u's :( )/p 


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